Hidden in Mist
by Alina-Cantha
Summary: Kakashi and Kurenai's teams head out for Water Country, with three diplomats from there under their care. The journey begins, and the fun is soon to come.


**Hidden in Mist**

**Chapter 1: Mission Start**

**Welcome to the first chapter of my new story... I have this thing where I always have to work on more than one thing at once, so it's this and Innocence, my Hinata fanfic. Any case, much of this story will take place in Kirigakure and Water Country, hence the (tentative) title. Anyways, this does involve some 'made-up' nins, and I'm actually looking for someone to maybe either design some clothing for them, or to actually draw them ('cause we all know I can't draw.) Anyways. Enjoy.**

**DISCLAIMER: Hinata, and all the other Naruto characters, as well as the whole Naruto-verse belong to Masashi Kishimoto...not me.**

Yawning through his mask, Kakashi knocked solidly on the door to Tsunade's office, hoping that the Fifth Hokage was actually out of bed. Sliding open the screen, he was surprised to see a bustle of activity. Assistants swirled around the Hokage's chair, and papers practically flew through the air. The desk standing in the middle of the room was stacked to about his eye level in papers. The firm sound of a rubber stamp came from behind the mountain of work.

"Stamp. Stamp. Stamp," Tsunade muttered to herself, mechanically stamping and tossing aside papers. Her blonde hair fell forward across her face in tangles. Absently pushing it back with one hand, she raised her head and caught a glimpse of Kakashi over her desk. "Oh," she whispered, laying down her stamp and blinking blearily up at him.

"Busy day, Tsunade-sama?" he asked quietly.

"Busy night," she yawned in reply, stretching and rolling her head from side to side. "I sleep in for one day and see what happens?" She gestured at the stacks of paper. "I end up staying up _all _night working. Working!"

"You wanted to see me?" Kakashi asked, standing at a loose attention and ignoring her indignation.

"Oh, I did, didn't I?" She paused, apparently trying to think of why she'd called for him. Finally she practically jumped out of her seat and dived for a pile of mission reports on the floor. "Found it!" she yelled triumphantly, practically rolling in a sea of paper. She held it up in front of her and strolled back to her desk, eyes quickly scanning it.

_I'm not even going to ask_, Kakashi thought to himself, raising his eyebrows as Tsunade's expression got happier and happier.

"Yesterday's crossword," she said by way of explanation. "I've been looking for it for a while." She pulled a pen from behind her ear and licked the tip of it, studying the paper. "I started it during one of those meetings yesterday. I bet Jiraiya I would be able to finish it by tonight, and I'm almost half-done."

Kakashi just cleared his throat.

"Oh, yes. Talking to you..." She whipped open the front drawer of her desk and pulled out a blue file folder. "We have a mission for you, Kakashi. It's a strange one too."

"Is it?" he asked, approaching her desk and leaning on the papers to glance down at the folder.

"Yes. We have three ambassadors from Kirigakure, as you well know, correct? Well, they've had their guards while they're here, but they had specific requests for their trip home. They want Kurenai's team as escorts."

"You don't want to upset them, so we have to agree, correct?"

"Yeah. But it's still kind of suspicious. So I'm sending you with. And your team, of course."

"I see. You said it's suspicious...how so?" he asked, reaching down for the file folder.

"Kurenai's bloodline...it's rare, and it could easily be combined with ninjutsu to create powerful attacks," Tsunade replied, running a finger down a column of statistics.

"Is this really smart then? If you're worried about Kurenai's bloodline, you're sending a Hyuuga _and _an Uchiha. As well as Naruto and I," he said quickly, working up his nerve to bring up this point. He paused, and continued, "I don't mean to overestimate our worth, but is it really safe to send them three different bloodlines, a demon fox and a spare Sharingan?"

"You know perfectly well that you'll be able to take care of yourself, Kakashi. Kurenai's young, but she can too. Your teams did well in the chuunin exams, even if they didn't make it to chuunin level," Tsunade answered quickly, with a large hint of exasperation in her voice.

Behind Kakashi, the door slid open. Kurenai stepped up beside him, adjusting her hair. "Yuuhi Kurenai, reporting for mission assignment," she said properly, with a loose salute. Kakashi raised an eyebrow at her formal manner. She glanced over at him, but quickly returned her gaze to Tsunade.

"Ah, Kurenai. Now you're both here," Tsunade said, sounding relieved. She quickly explained the mission again. Kurenai nodded her understanding. "Then you accept?" Tsunade asked the both of them, holding the folder up towards Kakashi.

"We accept," they said together. Kakashi took the folder from Tsunade and tucked it under one arm.

"Good. Now," Tsunade looked down at her desk and picked up her pen again. "Do either of you know what a four-letter word for 'color' is?"

Kakashi and Kurenai walked out of Tsunade's office, quietly discussing the mission ahead of them. "Kakashi!" a voice called from behind, accenting pounding footsteps. "Wait!" The jounin turned in time to see Iruka turn a corner and slam right into him. "I wanted to talk to you. I heard about your mission."

Raising an eyebrow, Kakashi turned to Kurenai. "Want to meet me at that one café outside? We still have things to go over."

"Yes," Kurenai replied, turning and walking down the stairs. "See you in a little while."

"Okay," Iruka began when Kurenai had gone. "I wanted to talk to you about the kids you're taking with..."

Kakashi cut him off. "We've been over this, Iruka. We don't need to do it again."

"I _know _we've talked about this before," Iruka groaned. "It's a little different this time. They are stronger than I thought they all were. I watched the chuunin exams, same as you. But I don't mean for you to overuse them. No matter how powerful they are, they're just kids!" His words tumbled out in a waterfall of speech; Iruka had clearly had to work up the courage to confront the older ninja.

"What's your point?" Kakashi asked, impatient to finish his mission planning with Kurenai.

"They may be your soldiers," Iruka answered steadily, "but that doesn't mean you can put them to death." He paused for a moment, looking down at his feet. "Keep them safe, Kakashi."

"That's my job," Kakashi answered immediately. Silently, he turned and left the building.

He met up with Kurenai at a small café outside, sitting casually on a worn metal chair. Sitting down across from her, Kakashi looked down in distaste as he felt flecks of paint come off the table into his hand. Shaking his hand absently to rid himself of the flecks, he glanced over at the papers Kurenai was flicking through. "You do realize we're leaving tomorrow?" she asked him as he sat down.

"Bright and early."

"Yeah," Kurenai responded, rolling her eyes. "Should probably get the kids together, huh?"

"Yes, but I believe we should assign two-person teams to each of the ambassadors. You and I can just tag along, but it'll be more structured if they're assigned," Kakashi mumbled. A waiter came over and delivered two steaming cups of coffee.

"Hope you like it black," Kurenai said with a grin, raising her cup. "It's all they serve here."

"Fine with me," Kakashi answered, picking up his own cup. "I see you anticipated us being here for a while."

"Of course. I mean, you've been at this longer than me, and I figure if you said we needed to talk, we'd be in it for the long haul."

"Good point." Kakashi picked up a napkin and pulled a pen out of his pocket. "We have two male ambassadors, and one female, correct?" Kurenai nodded. "All right, I'll work on the teams if you want to work on the contingency sheet."

The female ninja groaned. "Ugh, I hate those. I am absolutely _no_ good at thinking of every possible thing that could go wrong."

"Too late," Kakashi replied, triumphantly holding up the napkin. "I'm done."

Dryly, she responded, "Please, do explain." Out of the corner of her eye, she glimpsed Kakashi's coffee cup. It was half-empty. Like almost everybody else, she was still trying to figure out how the experienced jounin managed to eat or drink with his mask always on.

When Kakashi pushed the napkin towards her, Kurenai found it hard not to laugh. Kakashi was apparently not the most accomplished artist, and instead drew little stick doodles of everybody. She was particularly amused by her own depiction, which involved large inky swirls of hair and some very interesting eyes.

The ambassadors were drawn as little cartoon faces, with longer hair for the female. Kiba and Shino were assigned to the female, Sakura and Sasuke to the first male, and Naruto and Hinata to the second. "Why these pairs?" she asked, slowly nodding her approval.

"Sakura is technically the weakest of our group, and Sasuke is the strongest of these genins, so it makes sense they should be paired together. Kiba and Shino work well together, and I assume that they will continue to do so. I assigned them to the female ambassador because it is quite possible she'll be the most threatened or the weakest. Kiba and Shino are our strongest pair, so I put them with her. Finally, Naruto and Hinata, while maybe not being the most compatible pair, balance each other quite well," Kakashi explained quickly, gesturing to each group as he explained.

"Yes, that all makes good sense," Kurenai answered, nodding again. "That's settled then. How about that contingency sheet?"

The next morning, the group of ninja began to slowly gather outside the Hokage's office, where the ambassadors were having one last meeting. Sakura and Sasuke were first to arrive, both looking rather tired. Gradually, the others began to arrive, until the only ones not there yet were the jounin and Naruto.

"How come Kakashi-sensei is always late?" Sakura howled bad-naturedly, sulking in the corner.

"I wouldn't complain, you. Kurenai isn't here either," Kiba snarled back. "We were _supposed _to leave half an hour ago."

"Naruto isn't here either," Sasuke interjected, crossing his arms. "He's late almost as often as Kakashi is."

"Good morning, everybody," Kurenai called, dangling her legs over the edge of the roof. "Still waiting for Kakashi, I see?"

"Have you been there all along?" Kiba barked up at her, shaking his fist.

"Yep," Kurenai answered, jumping down and landing gracefully next to him. "Some ninja you five are."

"Sakura! Sasuke!" Naruto shouted at the people below, tripping over his own feet and rolling the rest of the way to the group. "Am I late?" he asked, breathing heavily. A sun hat drooped down over one eye, and various items hung out of his backpack, apparently hurriedly packed.

"No, Kakashi's not here yet," Sasuke replied bluntly, raising one eyebrow in disdain.

"Oh," Naruto panted, getting to his feet and pushing the last of his things into his bag.

"Nice hat," Kiba laughed, eyes dancing. "Going fishing or something?"

"Shut up, you!" Naruto bellowed, shaking his fist at Kiba.

The group sat down to wait. Sakura enjoyed a book, while Kiba and Shino quietly talked on the other end of the bench. Hinata sat patiently, just thinking. Naruto concentrated on the grass, sure that if he tried, his chakra would make it go faster.

Finally, Kakashi arrived, stepping out of the Hokage's office. "Good morning," he greeted them brightly, saluting them lightly.

"It's _afternoon_!" Sakura, Naruto and Kiba howled, accented by a bark from Akamaru.

"Hey, hey," Kakashi calmed them, holding up one palm. "I'm late because the toilet in my apartment backed up."

"Did not!" the three shouted back.

"All right, let's go," Kurenai instructed, rising from her own seat. "We still have to go pick up the ambassadors." Picking up her pack, she shot a glare towards Kakashi. "We're late already as it is."

"Simple enough," Kakashi responded. Turning behind him, he opened the door to let three people, covered in ground-length hooded capes, come through. "They're already here. They needed one last meeting with the Hokage before returning."

The three ambassadors bowed in turn, hoods disguising their features. "We apologize if we caused you any trouble," the one in the middle spoke up, pushing back her hood. "It was necessary to finalize our requests and speak once more with Hokage-sama before departing." She gracefully tucked a strand of long black hair behind her ear, blinking wide blue eyes at the ninja before her. Her left eye sported 3 long scars across it, but they did not darken her expressions. "I believe you are Kurenai," she continued, pointed towards the black-haired kunoichi with one manicured finger. "And Kakashi we have already been introduced to."

"May I ask your name?" Kurenai intruded politely, bowing lightly.

"Please forgive my horrible manners," the female ambassador replied with a soft laugh, pressing one hand delicately to her chest. "I'm so rude." She gestured to the other two. "I'm Amarante. To my right is my friend Kaemon."

Accordingly, Kaemon lowered his hood, bowing towards Kurenai. "Pleased to meet you," he said softly, smiling gently.

"And this is Ai," Amarante continued, gesturing to the other. He bowed also, but did not speak or remove his hood.

"He's a little shy," Amarante explained, winking one big blue eye towards the group.

"Are we ready then?" Kakashi asked. At Amarante's nod, he continued, "I hope you don't mind, but I've assigned our genin here to teams for each one of you." He pointed to each one in turn, making his way down the line. "First we have Sakura and Sasuke, who will be assigned to Ai, and next is Naruto and Hinata, who will be will Kaemon. For Amarante, I have assigned Kiba and Shino." The ambassadors nodded in approval, taking note of which genin were assigned to them.

"Kakashi and I will be escorts also, reinforcing our students and providing you with further protection," Kurenai added, standing at attention.

"You're so prepared," Amarante laughed, gesturing to herself and her partners. "We're not _that _important. Not even high-class diplomats, in fact."

"We should be assigned a pair of chuunins, I believe," Kaemon interjected. "I guess you guys must think we're extra special, eh?"

Kurenai raised an eyebrow towards Kakashi, puzzled at the diplomats' extreme good nature. In response, Kakashi only shrugged. "Let's go," he directed, starting out on the path out of Konoha. The others all followed him, slightly dividing up into their trios. Kurenai brought up the rear.

"So, what's it like in Kirigakure?" Kiba asked Amarante, bouncing energetically beside her. She glanced at him out of the corner of her eye before replying.

"There are hard times right now," she said slowly. "That is why we desire an alliance with your village."

"Uh huh..." Kiba replied thoughtfully. At his side, Akamaru yipped. Kiba glanced down at him, and then back to Amarante. "He wants to know what sort of hard times."

There was another long pause before her response. "We are very poor, right now. We have a lot of problems, really. Mizukage has been assassinated many times, until the people no longer seem to know who their leader is. Mizukage's council has disintegrated, and our ninja are slowly abandoning our country." She trailed off, tears glistening in her eyes. Lightly brushing them away with her sleeve, she finally continued, "You're a young boy. This means nothing to you, I'm sure." Kiba opened his mouth once more, but was cut off by an elbow to the ribs from Shino. Glancing over at his teammate, he suddenly got the message and fell silent.

Sasuke and Sakura walked a little behind Ai. Sakura seemed to be a little in awe of the tall mysterious ambassador. She couldn't have been happier after being paired with Sasuke, but she definitely would have prefered one of the other diplomats. Slowly, she worked up her courage until she stepped up beside him, drawing in a deep breath to begin speaking. "I'm a little curious about why you want this alliance," she began. "We have never been allies in the past, so why now?"

His shadowed face turned towards her, but Sakura still could see nothing within that darkness. "It is a difficult time in Kirigakure. We currently have no Mizukage, and the country is turning to a state of uproar. We are hoping that your village can help us calm our chaos and restore order," he answered quietly, in short, clipped tones.

"What happened to Mizukage?" Sakura asked, eyes widening in interest.

"He died."

"Of old age?" Sakura was well aware of the disorder and panic the death of a Kage could cause.

"Somebody killed him," Ai responded shortly.

"Oh." Sakura began to get the impression that Ai would not need much guarding, even in an emergency. She backed off and walked beside Sasuke once more, cowed by the man's short, impatient tones.

Kakashi and Kurenai had drifted together, preparing for the long walk ahead of them before they reached the boat that would take them the rest of the way to Kirigakure. Quietly, they discussed their students, their charges, and the possible alliance. Neither of them was relaxed, and neither of them could put away a nagging suspicion. However, when they tried to pin it down, it was impossible.

Naruto bounced around Kaemon, practically doing cartwheels with his boundless energy. Spreading his arms out like wings, he began to run circles around the entire group. Hinata watched him, wide-eyed at his intensiveness. Whizzing past Shino, Naruto began to shout, "I'm a bumblebee! Bumble bumble bumble buzz buzz!" Shino pushed his glasses up further on his nose, betraying his annoyance.

"Buzz off, you freak," Kiba snarled, flashing Naruto a crude gestures. Kurenai, walking just behind him, covered it with her palm.

"Mind your manners, Kiba," she told him firmly, raising her eyebrows at him.

In response to Kiba's comment, Naruto paused, waggled his butt in Kiba's face and darted back towards Hinata and Kaemon. Kakashi sighed, and prepared for a long trip.


End file.
